New York on the Super Cheap, May 2017
Jun 12th, 2017, 03:27 PM
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marvelousemous - look into getting the Hyatt credit card. You do have to spend a few thousand in the first three months or so (put everything on it - groceries, gas, etc) then pay it off. Once you meet the criteria, you get 2 free nights in ANY of their hotels...anywhere, any category.
I used mine in Hawaii. Two Christmas seasons ago, my BFF got it and we stayed in NYC for free for two nights. There is an annual fee; however, you get a free night yearly in a category 1-4 hotel, so that pays for the annual fee and then some.
Just a thought.
I used mine in Hawaii. Two Christmas seasons ago, my BFF got it and we stayed in NYC for free for two nights. There is an annual fee; however, you get a free night yearly in a category 1-4 hotel, so that pays for the annual fee and then some.
Just a thought.
Jun 18th, 2017, 02:03 PM
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Tuesday, May 9th The High Line, MoMA, and Hamilton
Mr. Pickle isn't a huge fan of large, crowded cities, so we tried to balance outdoor activities with museums and the like. We'd both been intrigued by the High Line (what a nice way to renovate an eyesore), our first stop on Tuesday.
We walked several blocks, stopping to enjoy the views, the art, and some activity out on the river. The weather was good, too, as it was for almost our entire trip - partly cloudy, occasional drizzle, with moderate temperatures.
Our second Groupon restaurant for this trip was Aleo, an Italian place near the Flatiron Building. http://www.aleorestaurant.com After the walk to the restaurant, we were ready to have a nice sit-down meal and a cocktail! Their food and service was quite good.
We spent the last part of our afternoon at the Museum of Modern Art. www.moma.org I loved seeing the work of many artists I'd learned about in college - Miro, Arp, Duchamp, Picasso, and Van Gogh, among others. However, many of the floors were closed so new exhibitions could be installed, so we didn't stay as long as we had planned.
We wanted to take the train to Herald Square, which was close to our final Groupon restaurant in Koreatown. Unfortunately, we couldn't get to that station for some reason that I don't remember now, and we had to get off at Penn Station and walk some more.
I wanted to be sure we had enough time to get to Hamilton, so we'd made an early dinner reservation at Madangsui. http://www.madangsui.com/ We don't have Korean barbecue here, and I'd wanted to try it for a while. We bought their Groupon offer of $25 for $50 worth of food and drink, and with all the delicious side dishes, plus an order of dumpling soup and seaweed salad, we had plenty to enjoy without feeling stuffed.
Finally, it was time for the main event of the trip! I've been pretty vocal here and on other sites about my dislike of most Broadway musicals, but Hamilton is different and well worth what we spent on tickets. Actually, the tickets themselves were not horribly expensive, IMO, but the fees were almost as much as one ticket cost. As you all said, there isn't a bad seat in the house; we sat in the mezzanine and could see and hear everything with no problems.
The show is excellent, as is the cast. I'm not sure what I can say that hasn't already been said by others. If you get the chance, don't miss the opportunity.
Lee Ann
Mr. Pickle isn't a huge fan of large, crowded cities, so we tried to balance outdoor activities with museums and the like. We'd both been intrigued by the High Line (what a nice way to renovate an eyesore), our first stop on Tuesday.
We walked several blocks, stopping to enjoy the views, the art, and some activity out on the river. The weather was good, too, as it was for almost our entire trip - partly cloudy, occasional drizzle, with moderate temperatures.
Our second Groupon restaurant for this trip was Aleo, an Italian place near the Flatiron Building. http://www.aleorestaurant.com After the walk to the restaurant, we were ready to have a nice sit-down meal and a cocktail! Their food and service was quite good.
We spent the last part of our afternoon at the Museum of Modern Art. www.moma.org I loved seeing the work of many artists I'd learned about in college - Miro, Arp, Duchamp, Picasso, and Van Gogh, among others. However, many of the floors were closed so new exhibitions could be installed, so we didn't stay as long as we had planned.
We wanted to take the train to Herald Square, which was close to our final Groupon restaurant in Koreatown. Unfortunately, we couldn't get to that station for some reason that I don't remember now, and we had to get off at Penn Station and walk some more.
I wanted to be sure we had enough time to get to Hamilton, so we'd made an early dinner reservation at Madangsui. http://www.madangsui.com/ We don't have Korean barbecue here, and I'd wanted to try it for a while. We bought their Groupon offer of $25 for $50 worth of food and drink, and with all the delicious side dishes, plus an order of dumpling soup and seaweed salad, we had plenty to enjoy without feeling stuffed.
Finally, it was time for the main event of the trip! I've been pretty vocal here and on other sites about my dislike of most Broadway musicals, but Hamilton is different and well worth what we spent on tickets. Actually, the tickets themselves were not horribly expensive, IMO, but the fees were almost as much as one ticket cost. As you all said, there isn't a bad seat in the house; we sat in the mezzanine and could see and hear everything with no problems.
The show is excellent, as is the cast. I'm not sure what I can say that hasn't already been said by others. If you get the chance, don't miss the opportunity.
Lee Ann
Jun 29th, 2017, 12:24 PM
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Wednesday, May 10th Gardens, the Grange, Greenwich Village
It took so long to get this website to cooperate that I'd better do some trip reporting now!
I'd seen information about the Dale Chihuly exhibit at the New York Botanic Gardens before we left, so I was pleased to find a Groupon for their all-garden pass. This gave us admission for $20 each. I was going to have Mr. Pickle use his student ID, but we saved more this way. In retrospect, I wish I had changed my student status before the trip; with two student IDs, we would have saved a little more at a few of the places we visited.
We enjoyed our ride on the Metro North train up into the Bronx; the stop is basically across the street from the entrance. Once we entered, we caught the tram (included in our ticket price) and rode around the gardens. The recorded tour information was interesting and useful; we saw parts of the gardens we hadn't planned to visit, and spotted a few Chihuly sculptures here and there.
Most of the Chihuly exhibit is in and around the conservatory, so we spent the rest of our morning there. It was a lovely day - sunny with a few clouds, and not hot at all. Surprisingly, there weren't many people there, so we had good views of all the gorgeous plants and the glass sculptures.
We left the gardens and walked (and walked and walked more) to a different train station that took us into Harlem. Lunch was at Charles' Country Pan-Fried Chicken - delicious chicken and sides. I was feeling a little vegetable-deprived, so I got their fantastic greens and string beans.
Full and feeling refreshed, we walked north along St. Nicholas Park to the Hamilton Grange National Memorial, the home Alexander Hamilton had built for his family a couple of years before his death. https://www.nps.gov/hagr/index.htm
Unfortunately, we arrived just before one ranger-led tour and well before the last one of the afternoon, so we sat down and watched a short film about Hamilton's life and career, browsed the exhibits, and returned to the film room so we could sit down and snooze a bit.
Eventually, we were allowed upstairs to see the rooms on the second floor. A few of the furnishings belonged to the Hamiltons, but most were brought in from elsewhere. Still, we enjoyed the glimpse into Hamilton's history.
At this point, we ended up with a chunk of free time since I'd left the whole afternoon open to visit the Grange. We decided to go to Washington Square Park, as I wanted to see the arch and since the park showed up regularly on one of my favorite TV shows, Person of Interest.
There was a lot going on in the park - people enjoying the sunshine, little kids running about, NYU graduates celebrating their commencement, music, etc. We walked around a bit and found the house where Harold's fiancee lived on the show (one of the NYU faculty homes).
At this point, Mr. Pickle was tired of walking, and we both needed a pick-me-up. We found a Starbucks (sorry not to go local, but it was there and had seating), got drinks, found places to sit and charge our phones, and made ourselves at home for a while.
I'd made plans with fellow Jeopardy alumni to play pub trivia at Slainte, an Irish pub in the Bowery which hosts one of the best trivia nights in the city. Lots of well-known trivia buffs (well, well-known if you're part of the larger trivia community) play there every week, so I didn't feel bad about stacking my team with game show champions. http://www.slaintenyc.com/location.php
We had a lot of fun - good food, great beer, and a good time with some of my online friends, capped by finishing in second place.
Lee Ann
It took so long to get this website to cooperate that I'd better do some trip reporting now!
I'd seen information about the Dale Chihuly exhibit at the New York Botanic Gardens before we left, so I was pleased to find a Groupon for their all-garden pass. This gave us admission for $20 each. I was going to have Mr. Pickle use his student ID, but we saved more this way. In retrospect, I wish I had changed my student status before the trip; with two student IDs, we would have saved a little more at a few of the places we visited.
We enjoyed our ride on the Metro North train up into the Bronx; the stop is basically across the street from the entrance. Once we entered, we caught the tram (included in our ticket price) and rode around the gardens. The recorded tour information was interesting and useful; we saw parts of the gardens we hadn't planned to visit, and spotted a few Chihuly sculptures here and there.
Most of the Chihuly exhibit is in and around the conservatory, so we spent the rest of our morning there. It was a lovely day - sunny with a few clouds, and not hot at all. Surprisingly, there weren't many people there, so we had good views of all the gorgeous plants and the glass sculptures.
We left the gardens and walked (and walked and walked more) to a different train station that took us into Harlem. Lunch was at Charles' Country Pan-Fried Chicken - delicious chicken and sides. I was feeling a little vegetable-deprived, so I got their fantastic greens and string beans.
Full and feeling refreshed, we walked north along St. Nicholas Park to the Hamilton Grange National Memorial, the home Alexander Hamilton had built for his family a couple of years before his death. https://www.nps.gov/hagr/index.htm
Unfortunately, we arrived just before one ranger-led tour and well before the last one of the afternoon, so we sat down and watched a short film about Hamilton's life and career, browsed the exhibits, and returned to the film room so we could sit down and snooze a bit.
Eventually, we were allowed upstairs to see the rooms on the second floor. A few of the furnishings belonged to the Hamiltons, but most were brought in from elsewhere. Still, we enjoyed the glimpse into Hamilton's history.
At this point, we ended up with a chunk of free time since I'd left the whole afternoon open to visit the Grange. We decided to go to Washington Square Park, as I wanted to see the arch and since the park showed up regularly on one of my favorite TV shows, Person of Interest.
There was a lot going on in the park - people enjoying the sunshine, little kids running about, NYU graduates celebrating their commencement, music, etc. We walked around a bit and found the house where Harold's fiancee lived on the show (one of the NYU faculty homes).
At this point, Mr. Pickle was tired of walking, and we both needed a pick-me-up. We found a Starbucks (sorry not to go local, but it was there and had seating), got drinks, found places to sit and charge our phones, and made ourselves at home for a while.
I'd made plans with fellow Jeopardy alumni to play pub trivia at Slainte, an Irish pub in the Bowery which hosts one of the best trivia nights in the city. Lots of well-known trivia buffs (well, well-known if you're part of the larger trivia community) play there every week, so I didn't feel bad about stacking my team with game show champions.
http://www.slaintenyc.com/location.phpWe had a lot of fun - good food, great beer, and a good time with some of my online friends, capped by finishing in second place.
Lee Ann
Jul 10th, 2017, 01:01 PM
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Yikes! I'd better finish this thing!
Thursday, May 11 Memorials, Museums, and Mmmmm
Our first stop of the day was the 9/11 Museum. We visited the memorial in 2014, but didn't have time for the museum then.
The museum is a somber, highly emotional experience, especially if you remember the events of that day. I don't cry easily, but I found myself getting choked up just by walking into the entry, where banner-like screens show people's reactions to the attack. This is the only museum I've seen where boxes of tissue are available at many of the exhibits. We had turned right at the lowest floor of the museum as well, so we saw the memorial room and the related exhibits first, before the exhibits about the actual day. If I had seen those last, it might have helped. https://www.911memorial.org/museum
At any rate, it was a difficult, yet worthwhile, time for both of us.
We had planned to visit Trinity Church, the Fearless Girl sculpture, and make a couple other quick stops before our afternoon tour at the Tenement Museum. However, we spent an hour more at the 9/11 Museum than we'd planned, so we only had time to go to the church and say hi to the Hamiltons, then walk the couple of blocks to the Charging Bull and Fearless Girl.
The bull was surrounded by a scrum of tourists at least six people deep. Fearless Girl had a smaller crowd, mostly women and girls. I managed to jump in and get a photo with her, though.
We took a train over to Yonah Schimmel's Knish Bakery for lunch on our way to the Tenement Museum. http://knishery.com/ Mr. Pickle had asked me to avoid buses as much as possible when planning this trip (we spent what seemed like hours on a 5th Avenue bus in 2014), so we had to walk a few blocks to the restaurant. By now, he was *really* tired of walking so much. Realizing he was tired and hungry, I resisted the urge to tell him to suck it up.
I'm not sure if I'd ever eaten a knish before, but I certainly enjoyed my mushroom knish and egg cream. Mr. Pickle snarfed down his spinach knish, and we split an apple knish for dessert.
Temporarily carbed out, we walked over to Orchard Street for a Shop Life tour at the Tenement Museum. http://www.tenement.org/tours.php When I was a little girl, growing up in a tiny town in the California mountains, I discovered Sydney Taylor's wonderful All-of-a-Kind Family books, about a Jewish family living on the Lower East Side in the early 20th century. Everything about the culture and the setting was fascinating, so, of course, I knew I had to take the opportunity to see that general neighborhood when I had the chance. https://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/boo...5WP/story.html
The museum's Shop Life tour mostly covered a German family who ran a saloon from their ground-floor apartment, but we also went into an apartment in the back of the building that was in the process of being renovated, and then into the second front apartment, which contained a variety of interactive displays about the many merchants who lived on Orchard Street and nearby. I really enjoyed my visit, and was sorry that we didn't have more time or money to see more.
We had been out semi-late and up early most of the week; that, combined with much more walking than we normally do, made us two tired Pickles. Mr. Pickle wanted to go back to the hostel and have dinner near there, but I really wanted to have dim sum in Chinatown, so we went back to the hostel to nap and recharge.
From what I hear, we can get dim sum where I live, but there are only a couple of places that make it. Thanks to all of you who recommended Nom Wah Tea Parlor! http://nomwah.com/chinatown/ I don't remember everything we ate, but we had soup dumplings, turnip cakes, pan-fried dumplings, and pork buns, plus something else.
Nom Wah is cash-only, so be prepared. I'd forgotten about that and Mr. Pickle had to find an ATM.
On the way back to the train, we stopped at Chinatown Ice Cream Factory for a couple of cones. It was difficult to choose only one flavor, but I ended up with their delicious black sesame ice cream. If you use the Yelp app, you get a free topping, too, which was a nice extra. Mr. Pickle enjoyed his mocha chip.
Lee Ann
Thursday, May 11 Memorials, Museums, and Mmmmm
Our first stop of the day was the 9/11 Museum. We visited the memorial in 2014, but didn't have time for the museum then.
The museum is a somber, highly emotional experience, especially if you remember the events of that day. I don't cry easily, but I found myself getting choked up just by walking into the entry, where banner-like screens show people's reactions to the attack. This is the only museum I've seen where boxes of tissue are available at many of the exhibits. We had turned right at the lowest floor of the museum as well, so we saw the memorial room and the related exhibits first, before the exhibits about the actual day. If I had seen those last, it might have helped. https://www.911memorial.org/museum
At any rate, it was a difficult, yet worthwhile, time for both of us.
We had planned to visit Trinity Church, the Fearless Girl sculpture, and make a couple other quick stops before our afternoon tour at the Tenement Museum. However, we spent an hour more at the 9/11 Museum than we'd planned, so we only had time to go to the church and say hi to the Hamiltons, then walk the couple of blocks to the Charging Bull and Fearless Girl.
The bull was surrounded by a scrum of tourists at least six people deep. Fearless Girl had a smaller crowd, mostly women and girls. I managed to jump in and get a photo with her, though.
We took a train over to Yonah Schimmel's Knish Bakery for lunch on our way to the Tenement Museum. http://knishery.com/ Mr. Pickle had asked me to avoid buses as much as possible when planning this trip (we spent what seemed like hours on a 5th Avenue bus in 2014), so we had to walk a few blocks to the restaurant. By now, he was *really* tired of walking so much. Realizing he was tired and hungry, I resisted the urge to tell him to suck it up.
I'm not sure if I'd ever eaten a knish before, but I certainly enjoyed my mushroom knish and egg cream. Mr. Pickle snarfed down his spinach knish, and we split an apple knish for dessert.
Temporarily carbed out, we walked over to Orchard Street for a Shop Life tour at the Tenement Museum. http://www.tenement.org/tours.php When I was a little girl, growing up in a tiny town in the California mountains, I discovered Sydney Taylor's wonderful All-of-a-Kind Family books, about a Jewish family living on the Lower East Side in the early 20th century. Everything about the culture and the setting was fascinating, so, of course, I knew I had to take the opportunity to see that general neighborhood when I had the chance. https://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/boo...5WP/story.html
The museum's Shop Life tour mostly covered a German family who ran a saloon from their ground-floor apartment, but we also went into an apartment in the back of the building that was in the process of being renovated, and then into the second front apartment, which contained a variety of interactive displays about the many merchants who lived on Orchard Street and nearby. I really enjoyed my visit, and was sorry that we didn't have more time or money to see more.
We had been out semi-late and up early most of the week; that, combined with much more walking than we normally do, made us two tired Pickles. Mr. Pickle wanted to go back to the hostel and have dinner near there, but I really wanted to have dim sum in Chinatown, so we went back to the hostel to nap and recharge.
From what I hear, we can get dim sum where I live, but there are only a couple of places that make it. Thanks to all of you who recommended Nom Wah Tea Parlor! http://nomwah.com/chinatown/ I don't remember everything we ate, but we had soup dumplings, turnip cakes, pan-fried dumplings, and pork buns, plus something else.
Nom Wah is cash-only, so be prepared. I'd forgotten about that and Mr. Pickle had to find an ATM.
On the way back to the train, we stopped at Chinatown Ice Cream Factory for a couple of cones. It was difficult to choose only one flavor, but I ended up with their delicious black sesame ice cream. If you use the Yelp app, you get a free topping, too, which was a nice extra. Mr. Pickle enjoyed his mocha chip.
Lee Ann
Jul 27th, 2017, 12:02 PM
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Friday, May 12 Central Park Photos and Atlas Obscura Sites
Our last morning in New York! We checked out and stored our bags at the hostel before we took the train to the Upper West Side for our Central Park photo tour. As I'd mentioned in an earlier post, we visited New York during National Tourism Week, and this was the last tour we signed up for.
This tour is excellent; I highly recommend it. Our guide, Ibrahima Diallo, is a professional photographer. He took as much time as we needed to help each of us (eight people total) improve our picture-taking skills, no matter whether we were using cell phones or a DSLR. In addition, he shared interesting information about the things we saw, and he has an engaging personality - very warm and friendly. https://www.allnewyorkfuntours.com/about
By the end of the tour, we were on the east side of the park. We had about three hours before we had to pick up our bags and go to JFK, so we decided to visit a couple of places that Mr. Pickle had bookmarked on Atlas Obscura. http://www.atlasobscura.com/things-to-do/new-york
Our first stop was the Explorers Club Headquarters on East 70th Street, where we spent some time looking at their exhibits. Only part of this building is open to the public, but we enjoyed the bits we got to see.
Several of you mentioned the difficulty of finding an inexpensive restaurant on the Upper East Side, and that proved true. However, we ended up having a slice at Mariella Pizza, on the corner of 70th St. and Lexington near Hunter College. I'm no expert on New York pizza, but my mushroom slice was very tasty.
Our final stop on this trip was the New York Society Library, another Atlas Obscura discovery. We were able to take a tour of their collections and enjoy a display devoted to Middle Eastern lands and sites that have been attacked by ISIS. This library is a real treasure; if I lived in New York, I would definitely want to be a member.
A quick train back to the hostel to pick our bags, another train to JFK, and we were on our way home.
We had a wonderful time, but Mr. Pickle was thoroughly tired of the noise and the crowds by the time we left. When we can afford to travel again, I suspect we'll spend very little time in cities on our next trip.
Lee Ann
Our last morning in New York! We checked out and stored our bags at the hostel before we took the train to the Upper West Side for our Central Park photo tour. As I'd mentioned in an earlier post, we visited New York during National Tourism Week, and this was the last tour we signed up for.
This tour is excellent; I highly recommend it. Our guide, Ibrahima Diallo, is a professional photographer. He took as much time as we needed to help each of us (eight people total) improve our picture-taking skills, no matter whether we were using cell phones or a DSLR. In addition, he shared interesting information about the things we saw, and he has an engaging personality - very warm and friendly. https://www.allnewyorkfuntours.com/about
By the end of the tour, we were on the east side of the park. We had about three hours before we had to pick up our bags and go to JFK, so we decided to visit a couple of places that Mr. Pickle had bookmarked on Atlas Obscura. http://www.atlasobscura.com/things-to-do/new-york
Our first stop was the Explorers Club Headquarters on East 70th Street, where we spent some time looking at their exhibits. Only part of this building is open to the public, but we enjoyed the bits we got to see.
Several of you mentioned the difficulty of finding an inexpensive restaurant on the Upper East Side, and that proved true. However, we ended up having a slice at Mariella Pizza, on the corner of 70th St. and Lexington near Hunter College. I'm no expert on New York pizza, but my mushroom slice was very tasty.
Our final stop on this trip was the New York Society Library, another Atlas Obscura discovery. We were able to take a tour of their collections and enjoy a display devoted to Middle Eastern lands and sites that have been attacked by ISIS. This library is a real treasure; if I lived in New York, I would definitely want to be a member.
A quick train back to the hostel to pick our bags, another train to JFK, and we were on our way home.
We had a wonderful time, but Mr. Pickle was thoroughly tired of the noise and the crowds by the time we left. When we can afford to travel again, I suspect we'll spend very little time in cities on our next trip.
Lee Ann
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Nov 6th, 2017 11:10 AM
